A Long December
by Sal-Paradise7
Summary: Previously posted as "The Tristan Years." Future Trory at Yale, but Rory has a new boyfriend at first. New chapter up: "You sound like the apocalypse is coming." "Almost--Emily Gilmore."
1. Default Chapter

A/N: So basically Rory and Tristan are both 20 and sophomores at Yale. Rory still rooms with Paris, but neither of them know Tristan attends. They haven't heard from him since the night of the play. This is pretty spur of the moment, and I'm writing it to improve my story writing skills. I'm trying to be clear, precise, and develop a good plot, so constructive criticism is strongly encouraged! People who write flames are dumb and bitter, and they serve no real purpose other than getting everyone mad.

P.S. Correcting my grammar definitely counts as helpful reviewing, and though I'm being sloppy here I think the grammar in the story will be okay.

Disclaimer: I'm broke. Completely and truly. All I own are my CD's, books, and my best friend's sweatshirt... and even that is debatable. The song in this chapter is by the Counting Crows, who you should all listen to.

**A Long December: Part One**

"_It's been a long December, and there's reason to believe_

_Maybe this year will be better than the last"_

-Counting Crows, Long December

Rory Gilmore was listening to music on her bed when her roommate burst through the door of their dorm room.

"Rory! Where have you been? I've been looking for you everywhere!"

"But Paris, I've been sitting here the whole ti—"

"Anyway, now that I've found you, I've got to tell you about the new research project Hutchinson assigned..."

About this time, Rory put her headphones back on and continued to bop her head to the beat while Paris paced the room, rambling about the new assignment. It was December of their sophomore year at Yale, and Rory had quickly learned how to tune out Paris after they had become roommates as freshmen. Rory and Paris had developed a unique friendship which, at the beginning, mostly consisted of Rory trying vainly to appease Paris. After the first few months though, Paris discovered how to relax, especially without as much pressure from her parents. She could still be high-strung, as this recent episode indicated, but mostly Paris had adjusted to college life quite well.

Rory loved Yale. Even after a year and a half at school, she still went to class everyday eager to learn. She had made several close friends very quickly and skillfully balanced school, friends, and her mom, who could be a handful at times. Rory felt lucky—she was surviving all the trials and tribulations of college life gracefully and relatively unscathed.

With a smile on her face, Rory looked up to see Paris waving her hands in front of Rory's face.

"Yes, Paris?"

"I can't believe you didn't listen to my rant! I don't know about you, Rory, but that research project seems pretty exciting."

Rory lead her friend into the common room of their suite and paused to heat up a slice of pizza. "I know it does, Paris, but come on, it's Friday night. Change into some sweats. Veg out. I hear "Bring it On" is showing on TNT. Watch that." Paris looked at Rory skeptically as she took the pizza out of the microwave. "Well," Rory continued, "you know, something of that nature at least."

"Well, staying here does sounds like a good idea... reward myself for the long week. Yeah, girls night in." Paris picked up the phone. "So do you want Indian or Chinese?"

"Oh..." Rory was cut off by a knock at the door, after which a young man's face appeared. Dark brown hair hung just in front of the his strikingly green eyes before he shook his head to remove it. He leaned against the door frame and had a laid-back demeanor, which was emphasized by his jeans and bare feet. He wore a blue baseball long-sleeved shirt and a Yale hat rested just atop his head. He was very attractive; his bright eyes melded nicely into a freckled nose and light red lips. He licked them before he spoke.

"Hey, Rory. Paris. Have you heard about Hutch's new project? Sounds great."

Rory smirked at the young man's polite attempt to make conversation with her roommate. He clearly didn't know what he was getting himself into, though. Before Paris could even begin to respond, Rory cut in.

"Yea, it does. She was just telling me about it, actually. Paris, I forgot to mention I was hanging out with Josh tonight. I'm really sorry... rain check?"

"Rory! What happened to 'sweats and vegging out'?" Paris imitated Rory. "You know 'Bring it On' won't be half as much fun without another person to mock it with!" When Rory gave her a pleading look, though, she gave in. "Fine, fine, but the food tomorrow is on you. Got that?"

"Yes, Paris. Thanks!"

"Go. Have fun. Bring me home some ice cream!" she yelled as Rory disappeared out the door.

"Will do!" Rory yelled back. Once safely into the hallway, Josh pulled Rory into his arms and gave her a light kiss.

"Hey," he said. "I'm glad you escaped her wrath. I didn't mean to get you in trouble."

Rory looked up. "That's okay. I think she understands. I just wish I didn't have to pick between you two, and that she would find someone so we could all hang out together."

"I'm sure she will, don't worry."

"I won't, but I still feel bad about it." Rory looked up and smiled. "Maybe I'll get her Ben and Jerry's instead of the supermarket brand to make it up to her. Let's go have fun."

Josh laughed. "Okay, let's just stop downstairs first so I can put some shoes on and grab my wallet."

Once Josh had said items and had thrown a sweatshirt on, they got into his car and were soon driving towards town for dinner and a movie, their normal routine. Rory and Josh first became friends freshman year in their Political and Philosophical Thought class. They bonded over the teacher's monotone voice and old-fashioned opinions. They had often agreed with and defended each other in intense debates, and they had found themselves talking after class more and more... and less and less about poly phil. They developed into friends by the end of the year, and when Rory saw Josh again in September, she found that she had missed him over summer break. So when Josh casually asked Rory out for dinner in October, she couldn't think of any reason not to go. She was impressed with how nicely Josh cleaned up for the expensive restaurant he took her to, and they had been dating for almost three months by now. Josh was nice and polite to Rory, and at the moment she couldn't be happier with him.

"_And it's been a long December, and there's reason to believe_

_Maybe this year will be better than the last_

_I can't remember all the times I tried to tell myself_

_To hold on to these moments as they pass..."_

A/N: One of my favorite songs.... anyways, just review so you guys can have input on the story and will have more fun reading it! Also I'd love to hear what you guys think about Josh. Talk to you quite soon I am sure... -sal


	2. Part Two

A/N: Hey guys, I just wanted to make sure you knew that I'm not going to make Josh the bad guy. Don't expect Rory to come home one day to find him cheating on her or anything like that. He's a good guy, and Rory likes him. Hell, who wouldn't?! But it'll still be a Trory. Thanks to everyone who reviewed the first part—keep it up! And feel free to offer suggestions! Oh, by the way, know that Josh has met Lorelai once before when Lorelai came to visit Rory at Yale.

Disclaimer: I don't own Gilmore Girls, but whatever characters you don't recognize are mine.

**A Long December: Part Two**

Rory woke up the next morning to the sound of the ringing telephone. She considered rolling over and going back to sleep, but the sudden thought that it might be Josh on the other end convinced her to pick up.

"Hello?" Rory groaned.

"Rory! Thank god you're there! Michel's being annoying again and won't talk to me," Lorelai whined.

"Mom, it's..." Rory looked at the clock, "9:30! I don't have a class for another two hours. Let me sleep!"

"Oooh why are you so tired, huh? Out late last night with Josh?" Lorelai pressed in a sing-song voice.

"Ugh... why do you automatically assume I was out with Josh? Could have been Paris, or Lane, or any of my other friends! Or maybe I was just studying, you know that is what college students do, right?"

"Was it Josh?"

"Yes. But that's so beside the point."

"What was the point again? I was tuning you out."

Rory threw her hands up in the air. "You're impossible."

"Thanks. So how was the date, anyways?"

"It was great. I really like him. But was there another reason for your call besides to get away from Michel and nag me about my social life?"

Lorelai sighed. "Yeah, actually, there was. How'd you know?"

"I know when you're avoiding a subject. What's up?"

"It's your grandmother. She wants us to go to her annual Christmas party. Believe me, I tried to get us out of it, but she wouldn't have it. Our duty to society, or something like that. I told her you were busy studying, and that you didn't have time to come to these stup—"

"It's fine, Mom, I'll go," Rory tried to cut off her mother's rant.

"—id socialite parties, and that you really weren't up for it after a long semester of stud—what? You'll go? Did I hear that correctly?"

"Yeah, Mom, I don't like these parties, but there's no way we can get out of it. She's Emily Gilmore, unable to take no for an answer. There's no use fighting it," Rory reasoned.

"You're sooo not my daughter. We will fight until the end! Do you think if I tell her you'll go, I won't have to?"

Rory laughed. "Not likely. So, it's on Christmas Day, right?"

"Yeah. 7 o'clock. Hey, maybe you can invite Josh and you guys can stay the weekend? You know, come cheer up your old maid of a mother whom you ditched just to go to some _college_. I mean, what kind of child does that to the woman who spent twenty hours in labor for her!"

"I know, it's completely ridiculous! God, why would I ever leave you to go to _college_? What could I ever learn _there_? Maybe I'll quit school and come home to work at MacDonald's. I can be Kirk's apprentice!" Rory played along.

Lorelai shuddered. "Or maybe you should just stay at school."

Rory laughed again. "Yeah, maybe. I'll have to ask Josh, but the weekend sounds good. We can go shopping."

Lorelai perked up. "Great! Ask him and get back to me. I'll talk to you later, okay, sweets?"

"Okay, Mom, bye!" Rory put the phone down chuckling.

"What's so funny?" Paris asked from the doorway.

"Nothing, really, my mom was just being my mom. All melodramatic about me being out of the house. Says she's turning into an old maid."

Paris snorted. "Yeah, right! She's anything but. You can even tell her I said that."

Rory smiled. "Thanks. Do you want to get some breakfast? There's no way I'll be able to fall back asleep now."

"Sure, I'll be ready in fifteen minutes."

"Okay."

Rory jumped out of bed and threw on some jeans, followed by a blue long-sleeved shirt and her corduroy jacket. She brushed her dark brown hair and put it up in a high pony tail. She shoved her cell phone, wallet, and keys into her pockets and headed out to the common room to meet Paris.

"Hey, ready?" she asked Paris once she got there.

"Yeah, where do you want to go?"

"I guess just the dining hall. I'm ready to try to use that waffle maker again!"

"Oh, Gilmore..." Paris muttered as she shut the door behind them.

Rory and Paris trudged through the half a foot of snow that was left on the ground from the storm from last week. They made comfortable small talk about the classes they had that day, and what papers they had due when. They also made plans for later that day, since they were unable to hang out the previous night. Just as they were trying to decide what to watch after "Sixteen Candles" and "The Breakfast Club" (with the obvious theme being Molly Ringwald), Rory's cell starting vibrating.

"Hello?" she answered, motioning to Paris to wait for her inside the dining hall.

"Did you have as good of a time last night as I did?" came the voice from the other end of the line.

Rory grinned. "Hello, Joshua. And to answer your question, yes, I did."

"Great, I was thinking we could have a repeat tonight? What do you say? We could go see that new Johnny Depp movie. I know you love him."

"I wish I could, but I think I should devote tonight to Paris. I still feel bad about last night, and we definitely need a night to rent some movies, gawk at the hot boys, and generally discuss your gender. Now, having an actual guy there might defeat the purpose, don't you think?"

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense."

Rory's voice suddenly lost a bit of its amusement. "Besides, after what I have to tell you, I'm not sure you'll be too happy with me."

"You sound like the apocalypse is coming."

"Almost—Emily Gilmore."

"Your grandmother?"

"Yeah, I got trapped into going to her Christmas party, and you're invited too."

"Do I have to go?"

"I guess not, if you really don't want to. My grandmother wants to meet you though, and Mom invited us to stay in Stars Hollow for the weekend."

"Okay, I'll go. I like your mom, even though she scares me a little," Josh said, laughing.

"Yeah, she tends to do that to people. But are you sure you're okay with this?"

"Yes, I'm fine, but that means we might have to spend Thanksgiving with my family."

Rory smiled. "That sounds nice."

Josh smiled too. "Yeah, it does." Suddenly, he sounded worried again. "Am I going to be ambushed by your whole crazy town?" Josh sounded worried.

"Probably." A thought struck Rory. "Oh, I have to go! Thanks for agreeing! I'll call you tomorrow!"

And with that, Rory hung up her phone and went into the dining hall to meet Paris, screaming "Pretty in Pink!!!"

A/N: Sorry there was so much dialogue. It kind of sucked. Anyways, I'm thinking Tristan might be in the next chapter. Either that, or the next next chapter. Review. -sal


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